Commentary by Clemens Heni
BERLIN — On Sunday, September 9, 2012, the first ever rally favoring circumcision and Jewish (and Muslim) life in Germany was held in Berlin. In May 2012 a Cologne court had ruled against a Muslim circumcision and generalized that the rights of children are threatened by every single circumcision, regardless at what age it is made. This is probably the most hardcore attack by a leading country of the world against the Brit Milah and Jewish life as such in recent decades. Jews and Muslims are extremely irritated, sad, and frightened. A rabbi at the rally was blowing the Shofar!
Some 300 people joined the rally. Orthodox Rabbi Yitzchak Ehrenberg as well as liberal Rabbi Tovia Ben-Chorin spoke, the two united on the podium. The event was organized by the Berlin-based Forum for Democracy and against Antisemitism (JFDA), lead by former head of the Jewish Community of Berlin, Lala Süsskind, and her colleague Levi Salomon. They are both known for their tireless fight against all forms of anti-Semitism.
A few weeks before, they organized a rally against the anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic al-Quds day, an Iranian propaganda event to denounce Israel and its capital, Jerusalem. At the rally to protect circumcision the head of the (liberal) Turkish Community in Germany, Kenan Kolat, spoke in support of the Jews in fighting the hardcore anti-circumcision climate in Germany. A young German-Turkish actor gave his first speech ever, because he is so upset about the discussion in Germany.
Organizations like the Giordano-Bruno Foundation (known for their work against Islamism, too) announced that they are going to start a campaign later the month to attack circumcision and to fight for the “rights of children,” and against the decision-making of parents vis-à-vis the Brit Milah. Jews are accused of abusing children, in effect, if not intent. This is a new form of the blood libel, framed in nice German words, always suggesting that Germans love children. In fact many Germans hate Jews and Judaism and do not like children either. This is the background for that important rally.
Several Israeli flags were displayed at the event, too. However, compared with a rally just the week before against an anti-Semitic attack against another rabbi on the streets of Berlin by (probably, according to eye-witness) German-Arab-Muslim youngsters, where some 1500 people, many Christians among them, showed up, the 300 people were a small group
The very same Christians and liberal Germans who always love to pretend to be open-minded and pro-Jewish dislike Judaism as soon as it comes to circumcision. The political elite in Germany did not show up at the event, besides one social democratic Member of Parliament, who did not join the rally in his political function as vice President of the German Bundestag, rather as an individual. This speaks volumes.
In recent weeks there has been a huge debate about circumcision in all parts of German society. Right-wing extremists like the homepage Politically Incorrect (known for their support of groups like the party Die Freiheit, the Bürgerbewegung Pax Europa, the so called Pro-Germany movement and the campaign “Stop the left” or “Linkstrend stoppen”) wrote that Jews will not have a place in Germany if they keep on practicing the circumcision. Over 600 mainstream doctors, legal scholars and others published a letter in leading conservative daily, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), and argued against circumcision. Marginal left-wingers and NGO-activist (in Iraq and the Middle East) Thomas von der Osten-Sacken equated the Brith Milah more or less with female genital mutilation (FGM). They’ve lost perspective and run riot.
This is also related, by the way, by pro-Israel publishing houses in Germany like ça ira, known for a few interesting publications. However, they also published books saying that the left should support Israel as long as the world is structured in nation-states and the rule of capitalism prevails. But what happens thereafter? Will Israel have a right to exist, in their minds, if the world is no longer structured in nation-states and no longer ruled by capitalism (the two evils which are responsible for anti-Semitism in their view)?
A tiny journal in Berlin, Bahamas, closely related to the publishing house ça ira, also pretended to be pro-Israel in recent years. They publish articles against Islamism, anti-Semitism and hatred of Israel. However, they urged (!) their readers and followers in a short statement on September 4 not to join the pro-circumcision rally because they detest “religious traditions.” In fact this reads like this: they support Israel but have an Israel in mind without circumcised Jews. Maybe they just want a female Israel with a few not-circumcised gentiles? It is interesting that the very same people like Osten-Sacken who are against anti-Zionist Judith Butler, who will be awarded the prestigious Adorno-Prize on September 11, 2012, in the city of Frankfurt, now attack Judaism and the Brit Milah. It’s a contradiction to be against anti-Zionism while sharing anti-Jewish feelings (framed as pro-child ideology).
Others, like journalists Richard Herzinger or Henryk M. Broder make fun of philosopher, composer, music and art critic and sociologist Theodor W. Adorno, who just survived Nazi Germany because he fled for the United States, and equate him with anti-Semitic Judith Butler, because both are liberals or leftists. Adorno fled the boycott of Jews (his father was Jewish) while Butler endorses anti-Semitism and the boycott of Jews in Israel. Adorno dealt with anti-Semitism as early as 1947 when his and Max Horkheimer’s “Dialectic of Enlightenment” published in German (in Amsterdam). They were completely paralyzed by the Holocaust and tried to analyze the Western impact in it. A core element, though, was their analysis of Germany and anti-Semitism – as early as 1947. Herzinger and Broder distort this history and embrace their own hatred of the left. They can’t see that there are leftist scholars and activists, who are against anti-Semitism of all kinds. They are obsessed with fighting the left and they are against Judith Butler not just because she is an anti-Zionist alone, but because she is a left-wing anti-Zionist. They do not analyze the fact that the former long-time mayor of Frankfurt, Petra Roth, a typical German conservative from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the party of chancellor Angela Merkel, decided in favor of leftist anti-Zionist Judith Butler, alongside with a horrible committee, including Axel Honneth, the head of the Institute of Social Research in Frankfurt, which was founded by Max Horkheimer in the early 1930s.
The Jerusalem Post just reported the other day about this journal Bahamas and the fact that they were not allowed to speak at a University in north-eastern Germany. Anti-Zionist Germans and the German state do not like the Bahamas. However, self-declared friends of Israel like the Bahamas who even urge their followers not to join a Jewish (and Muslim) rally to protect Judaism, Jewish tradition and the circumcision, are hardly pro-Jewish. They are not just silent about a pro-circumcision rally. They are so outraged about Judaism that they urge their “friends of Israel” (!) not to go to that event. Non-Jewish Germans explaining to Jews what it really means to be pro-Israel. That’s fun.
At the event in downtown Berlin one of the rabbis openly said that the circumcision, the Brit Milah, is seen by Jews as a connection with God, and is among the very few things almost all Jews, regardless if they are true believers, orthodox, liberal, agnostic, non-believing, atheist or whatever, join. At the rally he said that over 90 percent of Israeli male Jews are circumcised, this is an essential part of Israeli and Jewish identity.
Not so for German activists who love to be seen as pro-Israel, while they want a fantasy Israel with no Judaism at all. Who needs anti-Semitic enemies with that kind of friends? Well, that’s Germany.
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Heni is a freelance writer in Berlin
Anti- circumcision makes me remember Hitler.
we make kippa-flash-mobs in many cities! Germany needs sanctions , to stop this behavior. But who does that.
Here’s a follow up press release from the World Jewish Congress
COLOGNE, Germany Sept. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — At an ordination of four rabbis in Cologne, Germany, today, World Jewish Congress President Lauder urged the countries of Europe not to restrict religious freedom. “Don’t tell us Jews how to be Jewish,” he said in response to a growing number of attempts in European countries, including Germany, to restrict Jewish traditions such as circumcision or kosher slaughter. On behalf of the German government, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle pledged that a law would soon be passed to ensure that religious circumcision can remain legal in the country.
“Religious freedom and traditions are protected in Germany, and they will continue to be protected. Whoever bars circumcisions of boys in Germany bars Jewish life,” Westerwelle pointed out.
In his address, Ronald S. Lauder referred to the recent ruling by Cologne’s District Court which criminalized the religious circumcision of minors, even with the consent of parents: “In Europe, people are starting to question these practices. But when prejudice restricts religious practice, we have a problem. Jews are no strangers in these parts – not here in Germany, and not elsewhere in Europe! Jews have lived here for many centuries. Jews are part of this society.”
The WJC president went on to say: “Jews in many European countries are being regarded as strangers, our customs and traditions are called into question. This is nothing new. It has been done in the past – first in the name of religion, and then in the name of race. Today, it is being done in the name of rights.” Lauder added that the “hallmark of a free country is that it respects minorities and protects their rights. Therefore, I ask all the countries of Europe: choose freedom, choose tolerance, choose respect, and let us be Jews here!”
Dieter Graumann, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said that Jews in Germany would “not capitulate in the face of hatred and violence” and not be going anywhere. “To all those who now question Jewish life in Germany I say this: Jewish life here is safe – and must be safeguarded!”
About the World Jewish Congress
The World Jewish Congress (WJC) is the international organization representing Jewish communities in 100 countries to governments, parliaments and international organizations.
The institute for social research in Frankfurt was founded in 1923, and its first director in office was Carl Grünberg. Beyond this factual mistake, the commentary is also wrong about all the rest.
The following was received from Luis Liendo:
Several days ago Clemens Heni accused some German pro-Israel groups and intellectuals of spreading “anti-Jewish feelings”. His statement, “Imagine! Anti-circumcision, ‘pro-Israel’ Germans,” appeared on Monday, October 1, in the San Diego Jewish World, which the SPME-homepage also posted:
The journal Bahamas “urged (!) their readers and followers [sic.] in a short statement on September 4 not to join the pro-circumcision rally because they detest »religious traditions.« […] they [Bahamas] support Israel but have an Israel in mind without circumcised Jews. […] It’s a contradiction to be against anti-Zionism while sharing anti-Jewish feelings (framed as pro-child ideology).”
Bahamas and the ça ira publishing house are dedicated to social-philosophy and the criticism of Islam and Anti-Zionism. They were expressing their solidarity with Israel at a time when there were virtually no leftist or liberal institutions or intellectuals who even mentioned Islamic Anti-Semitism. During the last decade they organized and participated in countless lectures and conferences on such topics. The ça ira publishing house, a small and independent company, publishes the books of critics and scholars, such as Helmut Reichelt, Hans-Georg Backhaus, Moishe Postone, Johannes Agnoli, Gerhard Scheit and Léon Poliakov. Thomas von der Osten Sacken is the author of a corpus of articles treating political Islam and Anti-Zionism, many of which also appeared on the SPME website.
My impression is that Bahamas had no interest in joining the so-called Beschneidungsdebatte (circumcision-debate) in Germany. Its criticism of the protest of the Jewish Forum for Democracy and against Anti-Semitism is explicitly phrased in two statements:
“In view of the anti-Semitic attacks of Muslim youth against Jewish school pupils and a Rabbi in Berlin in the past days, the following documented appeal »Auf Messers Schneide« [on the knives’ edge; authors note] of the Jewish Forum for Democracy and against Anti-Semitism to an intercultural – i.e. obligated to a Jewish-Islamic fraternization – manifestation, appears nearly cynical.”
In a second statement Bahamas expresses astonishment that Jewish organizations promote the “perfidious equation” of Anti-Semitism and so-called Islamophobia. One of the troubling consequences of the so-called intercultural dialogue in Europe and the discourse on Islamophobia, — which has served Islamists in Europe well, — was that it enabled them to portray themselves as moderate forces and to dismiss criticism of Islam as racism, while at the same time systematically promoting Anti-Zionism. This approach reflects an unsound proposition. Solely in this context, and obviously because of the lack of substance of this particular appeal, Bahamas formulated further criticism of circumcision, which may be debatable but should not be a matter of serious concern for SPME. It certainly is not inspired by Anti-Semitism or “anti-Jewish feelings”. The same may be said about Thomas von der Osten Sackens’ comments on this debate.
Clemens Heni misses these nuances. He does not give references or links in his article, and his English-speaking audience, which could hardly be expected to know of Bahamas or Thomas von der Osten Sacken, must rely solely on his incomplete description of these German pro-Israel groups and intellectuals. One does not have to agree with every thought of these critics to appreciate their strong commitment to Israel and their contributions to the criticism of Anti-Semitism and Anti-Zionism. For this reason, Heni’s criticism of them represents an arbitrarily imposed interpretation. Had he seriously intended to expose the long-time players in solidarity with Israel as Anti-Jewish, he should have provided a well-reasoned and comprehensive analysis of their theses and positions.
Luis Liendo Espinoza is freelancer and member of SPME, Austria